The present invention pertains to an adapter for a fastening tool. More particularly, the invention pertains to an adjustable adapter configured to position a fastening tool, such as a flooring nailer or stapler, to drive a fastener, such as a nail or staple, at a desirable angle and into a desirable location in tongue-and-groove flooring material.
In the construction industry, tongue-and-groove materials are commonly used to install floors. As is known in the prior art, such tongue-and-groove materials typically comprise wood strips (or shingles) formed with a tongue extending outwardly from one edge of the strip and a groove formed in the opposite edge of the strip. The wood strips are positioned on a subfloor and aligned such that the groove of one strip matingly receives the tongue of an adjacent strip.
However, before the tongue and the groove of adjacent strips are joined, a fastener is driven through the tongue edge of the strip in order to secure the strip to the subfloor. In the prior art, powered fastening tools, such as pneumatic nailers and staplers, have been used to drive fasteners, such as nails and staples, through the strip and into the subfloor.
It has been found that the fastener should preferably be driven through the strip and into the subfloor at a 45 degree angle relative to the subfloor surface. Moreover, it has been found that the fastener should preferably be driven into the strip at a location above the tongue and into the corner where the tongue begins to extend from the edge of the strip.
Because a strip is fastened to the subfloor through the tongue edge of the strip before the groove of an adjacent strip is matingly engaged with the tongue, to achieve a tight, flush fit between adjacent strips, it is important that the fastener be driven into the strip at the preferred location so that the fastener does not interfere with or inhibit the mating engagement of the tongue and groove.
Many powered fastening tools are designed to be portable and mobile, and some may be bulky and heavy. Therefore, without the aid of a positioning device, it may be difficult to properly align the tool, and maintain the tool in the desired alignment, in order to drive the fastener at the preferred angle and at the preferred location. To that end, the prior art has developed a number of mounts and similar devices configured to align and secure the fastening tool in a desired position.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,631,836, issued to Dickhaut, for an “Accessory Device for Nail and Staple Guns,” discloses a non-adjustable shoe for positioning a fastening tool relative to a target material and providing sufficient spacing and orientation between a fastening tool and the target material.
While the disclosed Dickhaut device may be useful for aligning a fastening tool with tongue-and-groove flooring material, its usefulness is limited because tongue-and-groove flooring may come in various thicknesses and tongue configurations, and the device is not adjustable to accommodate such variations.
Another prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,843,402, issued to Sims et al., for an “Adjustable Tool Mount.” Sims et al. discloses an adjustable tool mount for fastening tools used to install tongue-and-groove flooring. The Sims et al. device is a relatively complex combination of slidably mounted plates and carriers configured to permit a fastening tool to be mounted thereto and aligned with the tongue of a tongue-and-grove flooring strip.
While the Sims et al. mount does permit the position of the fastening tool to be adjusted to accommodate various thicknesses and configurations of tongue-and-groove flooring, the mount engages the flooring material only at the underside of the tongue. Because the force generated upon activation of the fastening tool may be high, it would be advantageous for the mount to securely engage the flooring material at multiple interfaces to minimize the likelihood that the mount will move during the fastener driving operation.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an adjustable adapter for tongue-and-groove flooring material that configured to position a fastening tool for properly driving a fastener into the flooring material to secure it to a subfloor. Desirably, such an adapter is operable with many types of prior art fastening tools, such as nail guns and staple guns. More desirably, the adapter is configured to drive the fastener at a 45 degree angle relative to the subfloor and into the corner above the tongue where the tongue begins to extend from the edge of the flooring material. More desirably still, the adapter engages the flooring material at multiple interfaces, including the tongue and top surface of the flooring material, to provide support during the fastener driving operation. Most desirably, the adapter is configured to be adjustable to position the fastening tool properly for driving a fastener in many different sizes and styles of tongue-and-groove flooring materials.